


Courage They Gave Me

by shayzgirl



Series: don't regret this life [3]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) RPF
Genre: M/M, Weight Gain, body acceptance, pudge love, weight lose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-09
Updated: 2012-05-09
Packaged: 2017-11-05 01:39:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/401039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shayzgirl/pseuds/shayzgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James and Michael help their daughter deal with something they both understand in more ways than one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Courage They Gave Me

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song 'Gravity Happens' by Kate Voegele.

Michael should have been happy. For the first time in months his family was going to be home, all of them together in one place for more than a couple of days. James was flying home that afternoon, finally done filming Filth and Evelyn was home from filming Chances. She'd been home for two days, after finishing the last few scenes for the movie she'd been filming with Steve in Los Angeles. Michael was especially glad to have her home, since the last few weeks had been a bit of a struggle for both Evelyn and Steve. Michael was proud of her though, holding her own against Steve, making him realise that even though she was Michael's daughter, she wasn't exactly like her father and wouldn’t put up with some of his crap like Michael did.

He was worried though, too. He'd barely seen her eat anything. She'd lost quite a bit of weight for the role, not as much as he had lost for Hunger, but still enough that it was noticeable, especially when she'd arrived just off the plane in a t-shirt and jeans. The press was having a field day with that and despite his best efforts, Michael knew that Evelyn had noticed, since she'd come home and started wearing her baggy sweaters and sweatshirts, despite the warm weather. He understood what must have been going through her head. He hadn't had the issue of the press after filming Hunger, but he'd stay away from home longer than he probably should have, trying to gain the weight back before returning home to her and James. He didn't want her to feel the loneliness he'd felt. He didn't want to push her though, so he'd made lunch and dinner for them, letting her eat at her own pace. Today, she'd skipped breakfast though and even as he'd been cooking lunch, she'd stayed in her room, making him worry she'd skip it, too.

When he reached her bedroom, the door was open and Evelyn was sitting on the edge of her bed, knees up to her chest and chin resting in the valley created there, staring at the floor. It reminded Michael of when she'd been only twelve, right after he'd adopted her and brought her home. She'd seemed so small, sitting on the full size bed in the stark white room. She'd had barely anything, just a small duffel bag with a few clothes and a couple of toys. Nowhere near the mass amount of stuff that would one day fill up the room and mark it as hers. Not like it was now with its light blue walls covered in posters, pictures, and various bits of artwork. The closet was so full of clothes they were falling out the open doors. More clothes, especially shoes and various sweaters (most of which she’d borrowed from James) littered the floor. Even the bed was adorned in tan and red sheets and comforter. A lot had changed in ten years.

"Lunch is ready," Michael said, knocking gently on the door.

"I'm not hungry," Evelyn replied, not even glancing at her father.

"Come try to eat a little bit anyway," Michael replied.

Evelyn looked over at Michael and nodded. She stood slowly, fixing her oversized blue hoody as she did. Michael knew she was wearing that particular hoody because James had given it to her and she always tried to wear it the days he came home after being gone wherever the job took him and for however long. She did the same thing with a t-shirt and leather jacket Michael had given her. When they'd both been gone for press for First Class, she'd shown up at the airport in the leather jacket with the hoody tied around her waist and even though she'd looked a bit ridiculous, the sentiment had been greatly appreciated. 

"Excited to see James later?"

"Yeah. Of course."

"Good."

Michael smiled at her and she offered a small smile back.  Evelyn sat down at the table but didn't start eating right away. Michael cleaned up what little mess he'd made making lunch before joining her. She managed to eat a couple of bites that Michael suspected were mostly for his benefit.

"I'm sorry," Evelyn whispered.

"For what?"

"I know I could be doing better, eating more. I… I am trying, I promise."

"Evey, hun, you don't need to apologise. I've been there."

Michael reached over, carefully holding her hand. When she looked up at him, tears had formed and were clinging to her lashes.

"It's going to take time and that is okay."

Evelyn nodded, wiping at her eyes.

"Come here."

Evelyn stood and stepped closer to Michael.

"Really come here," Michael said, holding out an arm.

"Papa," Evelyn replied.

"Come on."

Evelyn chuckled as she sat on Michael's lap.

"Really?" she asked, as Michael held her.

"Yes. You're never too old to sit on my lap. You'll always be my little girl."

Evelyn smiled, leaning against him.

"I am so proud of you. You made the choice to make this movie, even though I was worried. You handled everything wonderfully including Steve. And if you still want, I won't see it. But know I'm proud of you and I will help you through this. It's not going to happen overnight, but we'll get through it."

"Thank you."

Evelyn hugged him, burying her face against his shoulder. Michael held her, kissing the top of her head.

Michael cleaned up after lunch, Evelyn having retreated back to her room after only eating about half of it. Michael let her be. James was on his way home and had promised to talk to her. He remember the days and weeks and months after he'd finished filming Hunger, every day being another struggle to eat again to force his body to want food. It had been the biggest reason why he'd stayed away; leaving Evelyn with James and Anne-Marie so she didn't have to see that struggle.

Michael heard the front door open and smiled.

"Hey," James smiled.

"Hi."

"Miss me?"

"Always."

James set down a package he was carrying and then grabbed Michael and kissed him.

"Now, I feel like I'm home," he smiled.

Michael nodded.

"How is she?"

"Struggling."

James nodded. Michael glanced over at the package.

"Is that cake?"

"Yes. Don't touch it. It's not for you."

Michael frowned, which caused James to chuckle.

"I mean it."

"Okay."

James hugged Michael, knowing he needed it, especially as Michael held him tightly.

"She'll be okay. We'll be okay."

Michael nodded. James held him a little bit longer.

"I'm going to go talk to her."

"I think she'd like that."

"Quick question: you like me like this, right?"

"I love you like this. I love you always."

James smiled.

"Good answer. I love you, too."

Michael kissed him again before he headed down the hall.

"Knock knock," he said, opening Evelyn's bedroom door.

"Daddy," Evelyn grinned, jumping up from the bed and hugging him.

"How's my little girl?"

"Okay."

"Just okay?"

Evelyn nodded.

"Well, we'll have to fix that."

He hugged her tighter, causing her to make a noise between a squeak and a giggle.

"You're like a teddy bear."

"What?"

"You're all… squishy and cuddly. Like a teddy bear."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should."

James smiled, standing back to look at Evelyn.

"So, why is my little girl only okay?"

Evelyn sighed, turning to walk back over to her bed. James watched as she sat down, pulling her laptop from where she'd left it. James sat next to her and looked at the screen. It was open to an article about her with photos from her arrival home, with several comments about her weight.

"They said I was chunky in the First Class sequel."

James closed the laptop, pushing it away as he looked at Evelyn.

"Hun, ignore them. They called me chubby in First Class. They've been saying all sorts of things about my weight now. They're vultures and they're wrong."

James pulled Evelyn into another hug.

"If I need to, I'll take the laptop from you, but I think between your father and I, that you'll be more than okay."

"Really?"

"Really, because we love you no matter what. I'm not going to be filming for a bit and I like being squishy and cuddle teddy bear dad, mostly because I like food and not worrying about anything else. So I don't care what they say. All I care about is what you and Michael think. That's all you should care about, too."

"Okay."

"Okay. Now, I brought home cake and it's special cake. Only Scots can eat it, so we can't risk your father having some. You'll help me eat it, right?"

"Yeah."

James smiled at her as she nodded, grabbing her hand and pulled her up and out of the room. They found Michael in the kitchen, opening the cake.

"Hey, I said don't touch that," James grinned.

"Yeah, papa, it's special cake. You can't have any," Evelyn smiled.

"Oh, is that so?"

Evelyn and James both nodded.

"Uh-huh, and what kind of special cake exactly?"

"Cake only Scots can eat."

Michael gave them an incredulous look, as Evelyn grabbed the box from him.

"No cake for you. Only dad and I."

"I don't believe either of you."

James grinned looking at Evelyn.

"Do you think we should risk giving him a piece? Maybe a small one?"

Evelyn looked as though she were pondering that, eying both of her fathers before nodding enthusiastically.

"But only a tiny one."

Michael rolled his eyes but chuckled at the two of them as James took the box and began to cut slices for everyone. Michael ended up with the largest piece and Evelyn the smallest. The three of them sat at the dining table while they ate.

"You finish that missy," James said, watching as Evelyn sat her fork down with still a partial piece left.

"I can't."

"You can. Four more bites."

"How about one more bite?"

"You can finish that in four. That wasn't a very big piece to begin with."

Evelyn frowned.

"Three bites?"

"One and a half?"

"At least two."

Evelyn picked her fork back up and took another bite.

"Come on. One more. That one, with all the icing."

Evelyn ate that bite and then set her fork down.

"Happy?"

James reached over, scooping up some icing with his finger, and smearing it on her nose.

"Yes. Thank you."

Evelyn scrunched her nose and looked at it a bit cross-eyed as she used her finger to wipe the icing off of it and licked the icing from her finger, before sticking her tongue out at James.

"Now, you can finish that piece," James said, looking at Michael.

"You gave me the biggest piece."

"And you were lucky to get any, so eat up."

Michael glared at James but took another bite which prompted Evelyn to laugh at the both of them.

"Oh, look, she's laughing. I've missed that," James smiled.

"Me, too," Michael added.

Evelyn gave a small smile, looking down at the table and plucking at the table cloth.

"Baby steps. You did good with the cake. And we'll do it again at dinner. A couple extra bites each meal, okay?" Michael said, reaching over to hold her hand.

Evelyn looked up at him and nodded.

"How about you go load up  _Weapons of Fate_  and you can show me how far you are in the game?" James asked.

"Okay. I think you'll like it," Evelyn replied, quickly standing up from the table.

"Can't wait."

Evelyn grinned as she disappeared into the living room. James grabbed her plate and finished the last couple bites.

"Thank you," Michael said.

"For what?"

"For this."

"What? Being a good father to our daughter?"

"Well, yes, but helping her. She looks up to you."

"That's because I'm squishy and cuddly teddy bear dad, but you're still her favourite. Besides, I was bringing cake home anyway because I just really wanted cake."

"What? Teddy bear?"

"Her words, not mine."

Michael shook his head.

"I meant it, you have to finish that."

"Why? I ate as much as you. And why did you give me a bigger piece?"

"Maybe I want to make you into squishy and cuddle teddy bear, too."

"Oh, is that so?"

James nodded. Michael leaned over and kissed him.

"Dad!" Evelyn called from the living room.

"I better go."

"I can't believe you encourage her to play that game."

"She'd play it anyway, just like I couldn't stop her from reading  _Filth_. She's very stubborn."

"I wonder why that is?"

"I am not the only stubborn one in this family."

Both of them laughed at that.

"Daddy!"

"On my way!"

James stood, gathering his and Evelyn's plates and taking them to the sink. He turned back to Michael and smiled.

"You don't actually have to finish it if you don't want to."

"Maybe I want to."

James leaned down and kissed him, before heading into the living room to join Evelyn. Michael finished his slice of cake and after dropping his dish into the sink, followed his family into the living room where Evelyn was enthusiastically killing some bad guy with a knife in the video game with James' encouragement.


End file.
